Tucked behind The Henry Ford Museum is the small area reserved for Greenfield Village. A place full of homes Ford had moved there or reconstructed, Greenfield Village is a unique place to visit. On this night in particular, the village is transformed into your fantasy winter wonderland, and I had the opportunity to walk about this fantasy thanks to my boyfriend’s parents for our early Christmas gift. It is called it Holiday Nights, and for the price of the ticket, it was well worth the experience.
Upon walking into the village, we were all greeted by some “villagers” on two very large horses. The “villagers” are dressed in almost Victorian era styled clothes, and are plotted throughout the village and through the various shops and houses. These shops are the ones that are normally there when the village is open, but on Holiday Nights they have opened their doors once more for us “shoppers”. We made our way through a few of these buildings. One was the hat store, where you were allowed to try on the hats of different time periods, and look at yourself in the mirrors and be persuaded by the women in the shop to “buy”. The houses that you could walk through ranged from Booker T. Washington – the house where each board is made out of a different tree - to Merriam Webster - where you can tour the house and in the end see the oldest version of the Dictionary.
The village itself was decorated for Christmas. Bows and decorated trees, lanterns on posts that guided your way, and small pop-up shops aligned the streets’ edge. It was here you could purchase an ornament or two, maybe a wreath, or even freshly roasted chestnuts (which actually aren’t half bad!). In the middle of the village, after passing through the door of a tent, you can rent out some skates and ice skate on their hand-made rink. As I held onto the wooden railing for dear life, my boyfriend scooted across just fine, or as he says, “It’s like sliding on your socks in the kitchen!” There were also times when walking the streets you would have to step to the side, as there were rides in old-fashioned cars around the narrow roads.
In addition to all this fun, there was a horse-drawn carriage ride, which we just had to do. Sitting up at the front, we were right net to our entertainment for the 8-minute ride. A man stood up and guided us in singing carols as our driver took us through the streets. Our constructer then became our performer, where he pulled out a very large saw and began to play Silent Night like it was a violin. It was very beautiful. Our ride ended up at the Robert Frost house, where Santa was just making his way back inside. But, we were able to pet the friendly reindeer nearby.
Afterwards, we had to make our way back to the center of the village where everyone who attended came together to sing even more carols, and the night ended with a fireworks display over the river.
The night was an absolute blast, and from elderly to the little ones, Holiday Nights at Greenfield Village is the perfect spot for any and all. There were many more activities to do and a lot of different things to see, and I would recommend to everyone at finding the chance to go in your future holiday plans!
